The Iowa Board of Regents, which governs Iowa’s three public universities, including Iowa State University, in addition to a few other institutions, may soon become more transparent in its operations and may soon be more accountable to concerned Iowans who want to ask Board members questions about their activities.

One of the Board members, Bruce Rastetter, outlined a plan to create a nine-member Transparency Task Force at the Board’s February meeting, and that group’s first meeting is Friday in Des Moines. Additionally, on Tuesday the Iowa Senate passed a bill that would also attempt to make the Board of Regents more transparent.

The addition of such practices to the Regents’ habit of holding a monthly meeting is not very surprising, given the loud complaints of the past few years regarding Rastetter’s connections to his former company’s plans to develop land in Tanzania, concerns about limiting the research domain of the Harkin Institute here at Iowa State, and the general micromanaging of Iowa’s public universities by the Board of Regents. Indeed, reform was going to happen at some point.

If done out of regard for the public interest instead of partisanship or factionalism, such reforms that better tailor a government agency to the present time and to present needs are a part of political renewal. As distinct from the broad constitutional principles that provide a foundation for every law and policy enacted by a majority, laws and policies should reflect the struggles of living in a certain time. Public action has always been meant to resolve public problems. Tax cuts, for example, often are effective for only a short period of time, after which they expire and tax rates revert to their older, higher percentages. (Think of the tax cuts in the John F. Kennedy presidency.)

Laws usually respond to public problems. At the most basic level are budgets that give additional money to organizations that need it to operate effectively or that reduce funding because an agency has mishandled funds or grown too big or is less necessary than it used to be. When the economy experiences a downturn, many people look to government to provide a stimulus through deficit spending.

At a state level, one recent example illustrates how even ordinary regulatory and police powers can be affected by events. This legislative session, one couple has been lobbying the state legislature to require new multi-family dwellings to install safer screens on windows. The impetus behind this advocacy is the fact that the couple’s young daughter fell to her death out of a window with a weak screen. Although that example is tragic, it is probably safe to say that, but for the child’s death, the couple would never have thought to try getting a bill with its provisions passed.

The Iowa Board of Regents should be exposed to the same modifying forces. When there is a problem — or the perception of a problem — change is necessary. Very few ships are built so sturdily that they can sail through a hurricane with their masts fully rigged. The crew must, if they want to have a chance at survival, tie up the sails and secure the cargo. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it — but if it’s broken, fix it, soon.